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Rebeca Haro, 40, gets blood drawn from her left breast Thursday afternoon at the SHARP hospital in San Diego as she undergoes a light chemotherapy treatment. Haro has been undergoing treatment ever 3 weeks for the past 3 years after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. (Eric Miller) |
Rebeca Haro smiles and relaxes more now than before 2008, before she was diagnosed with incurable stage four breast cancer.
“Breast cancer has taught me to love in the purest sense,” she said. “Life is beautiful and short. Don’t be rushing through it.”
Having cancer has also made her less afraid to put herself first.
Haro started taking classes at San Diego City College and speaks English more, she said.
“Now I feel more free and do things I always wanted to do,” she said. “It’s become easier to say ‘I love you.’”
Her cancer is in remission, but she will continue treatment for the rest of her life.
A doctor told her that there’s a 16 percent chance of someone with stage four breast cancer living more than five years.
After finding a lump in her breast, she went to a doctor and had both a mammogram and ultrasound done. The doctor told her she was fine.
She went to another doctor who ordered a biopsy.
Two days later, Haro’s world abruptly stopped on her 37th birthday, July 31, 2008. Her doctor told her she had breast cancer.
Her 17-year-old daughter, Eugenia Amaya vividly recalls that day, the high-pitched “oh” her mother had uttered while on the phone and the tears that had streamed down her mother’s face after she put down the phone.
“I didn’t cry that day,” Amaya said. “I just wanted to know how bad it was.”
She later overheard her mother tell a friend that scan results didn’t look good.
Amaya became mad, not about the cancer or at her mother but “that I couldn’t do anything about it,” she said.
Scans revealed that the cancer spread to Haro’s bones. Due to her young age, the cancer was more aggressive and increased to stage four. She had no family history of breast cancer.
She soon began chemotherapy, radiation and then had a mastectomy in February 2009.
The chemotherapy and radiation weakened her.
“Chemo sensation is nothing good. I don’t want anybody to feel this. You feel like you’re dying and that you want to run, run, run and not stop running,” she said. “You feel like you are burning inside of you.”
She often slept throughout the days following treatment.
“Breast cancer has taught me to love in the purest sense,” she said. “Life is beautiful and short. Don’t be rushing through it.”
Having cancer has also made her less afraid to put herself first.
Haro started taking classes at San Diego City College and speaks English more, she said.
“Now I feel more free and do things I always wanted to do,” she said. “It’s become easier to say ‘I love you.’”
Her cancer is in remission, but she will continue treatment for the rest of her life.
A doctor told her that there’s a 16 percent chance of someone with stage four breast cancer living more than five years.
After finding a lump in her breast, she went to a doctor and had both a mammogram and ultrasound done. The doctor told her she was fine.
She went to another doctor who ordered a biopsy.
Two days later, Haro’s world abruptly stopped on her 37th birthday, July 31, 2008. Her doctor told her she had breast cancer.
Her 17-year-old daughter, Eugenia Amaya vividly recalls that day, the high-pitched “oh” her mother had uttered while on the phone and the tears that had streamed down her mother’s face after she put down the phone.
“I didn’t cry that day,” Amaya said. “I just wanted to know how bad it was.”
She later overheard her mother tell a friend that scan results didn’t look good.
Amaya became mad, not about the cancer or at her mother but “that I couldn’t do anything about it,” she said.
Scans revealed that the cancer spread to Haro’s bones. Due to her young age, the cancer was more aggressive and increased to stage four. She had no family history of breast cancer.
She soon began chemotherapy, radiation and then had a mastectomy in February 2009.
The chemotherapy and radiation weakened her.
“Chemo sensation is nothing good. I don’t want anybody to feel this. You feel like you’re dying and that you want to run, run, run and not stop running,” she said. “You feel like you are burning inside of you.”
She often slept throughout the days following treatment.
